


Service

by KennaM



Category: Original Work
Genre: Assassins & Hitmen, Science Fiction, Were-Creatures, Werecats, therianthropy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-12
Updated: 2013-09-12
Packaged: 2017-12-26 08:02:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/963535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KennaM/pseuds/KennaM
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Original work, written in 2009 and rewritten in 2011.</p>
    </blockquote>





	Service

**Author's Note:**

> Original work, written in 2009 and rewritten in 2011.

A shapeshifter sat in the middle of a crowd, a therianthrope in the form of a large black cat licking his paws. His fur was matted and unkempt, and his tailed was tucked tight beside his hind legs, away from the soles of the jostling crowd. The cat sat perfectly straight but for a constant dip of his head as his rough tongue brushed over his claws, sending a ripple through his course fur. The normal humans paid him no attention, and the other therians nearby ignored his as well. All eyes and ears were focused on the address being given on the low balcony before them.

The man giving the address leaned carefully on the railing of the balcony, pausing briefly in his speech to look down into the crowd. Everyone watched silently. The speaker continued, knotting the corner of his jacket with one hand and gesturing broadly with the other. A few inches from his lips, a near-invisible microphone flitted back and forth, picking up every sound he made and transmitting to the electric verbalizers positioned around City Platform 10. The speaker swatted mindlessly at the microphone, as if forgetting for a moment it was not a fly.

On the wide platform below, the therianthrope rolled his eyes.

A cold wind stirred the flags hanging from the nearby skyscrapers. Behind each flag, an electric verbalizer boomed the address into the giant crowd below and across the city air to people nearby who hadn't bothered to attend. Those standing too far away to see the balcony or the man speaking watched through thin plasma screens strategically placed around the city platform. With his sharp, bright eyes, however, the therian could see the speaker blink.

Beside the speaker stood a wolf, shivering in human form despite the heavy jacket he wore over his uniform. The cat on the city platform looked from the speaker to the wolf, recognizing him by the clan chain around his neck, and tilted his head slightly. "There's no reason to be without fur in this weather," the cat commented quietly to himself. Even in his thick black coat, he trembled slightly against the rising wind.

"Hush, Kaneo!" hissed a female therian to his left. Kaneo dipped his head apologetically, but offered nothing else. The she-cat gave him a glare and returned her attention to the speaker just as the crowd broke into applause. With another glare to her companion, she turned to ask the cat on her other side what had been said. Kaneo didn't bother to catch the response.

The wolf beside the speaker leaned away for a moment to hear the whispered words of a guard in black uniform. He nodded, whispering something back, and the guard left. Ignorant of the exchange, the speaker gripped the balcony rail dramatically, stealing a quick but noticeable glance at both his timepiece and handwritten notes.

Kaneo had seen enough. With the crowd's attention on the balcony before them, the cat stood and stalked towards the end of the platform, where a silver skyscraper rose high up off the planet's surface to act as a support for the city network. Guards in black uniform paced the open panels into the building's interior, polarized tranquilizers held at the ready on their patrols. Kaneo nodded politely to one, who let him out of the crowd and directed him to wait for the elevator, preset to take any citizen to the next platform down. A few people abandoning the speech early had just left, and another car wouldn't arrive for at least sixty seconds.

Glancing around quickly to make sure no one was watching, Kaneo ducked past the rigged elevator and into the interior hallway, making for the large storage closet at the end. He made it without being noticed, and found the door slightly ajar, subtle enough to be overlooked by a passing guard. The therian nudged it open with his nose and slipped in.

The room was cold and dark, but as his yellow eyes adjusted, he found two briefcases inconspicuously tucked behind a metal shelving unit. He made sure the door had shut behind him, then changed out of his animal form, stretching his arms out until his paws had turned into human hands and the only hint of his true identity was the clan bracelet hanging from his wrist. His dark skin prickled against the chill.

The therian opened the first hidden briefcase and quickly changed into the clothes folded within. At the bottom of the case lay a small handgun, fashioned to use solid bullets. Kaneo picked it up, fitting it into his hand and checking the chamber before slipping it into the waistband at his back and pulling on a pair of dark gloves.

The second briefcase contained a portable computer hub. Kaneo snaked the cord out to fit it into the wall and booted the machine up; it opened directly to a 3D holographic display of the city network, which rotated freely for a moment before zooming in on City Platform 10, and then the silver skyscraper in which Kaneo huddled. A single vantage point several floors up was highlighted.

Kaneo closed the briefcase and stood up, his spine cracking as he stretched, to take a look out the storage room door. Guards still paced the front of the building, but from this distance his long black coat would appear no different from theirs', and Kaneo stepped out as if he belonged.

He headed into the stairwell a few doors down, empty and strange smelling from lack of use, and devoid of any natural light. Electric bulbs had been placed behind covers along the walls of every landing, and the affected light glinted sharply off the metal fixtures. Kaneo kept his eyes on the floor in front of him, glancing both up and down every so often to make sure so one was there to see him. He took the stairs two by two, and every step was carefully measured so as not to make a sound. Through the thick building walls, the voice of the speaker outside had disappeared, and besides the swish of his clothes and the blood in his ears, Kaneo could hear nothing.

It took a minute to reach the door that lead out to the floor Kaneo had seen marked on the holograph. It was warmer in the hallway than in the stairwell, and dimmer, too. Light filtered down the hall from the wide one-way window at the end, and every room the therian passed on his way was dark and empty.

Kaneo stood for a moment at the window, looking down at the platform below. The people in the crowd stood mostly unmoved, hanging off every word spoken before them on the balcony. As he watched, Kaneo pulled a small silencer chamber out of his coat pocket and fixed it to the end of the handgun. He tested the weight of it, and returned it to his waistband.

A noise could be heard from somewhere down a side hallway. Kaneo turned towards it, this time letting his boots fall loudly on the tile floor and echo across the rooms. The noise stopped for a moment, and as the therian walked down the hall, a man appeared outside a doorway, carrying a long-range polarized gun which he pointed at Kaneo's chest.

"Who are you?" the man rasped hoarsely, evidence of a cold in his voice. Kaneo held his hands up to his chest, palms out, and kept walking.

"Nika sent me," Kaneo said. "Just wanted to make sure everything went according to plan." The long-range lowered slightly.

"You mean Cornika? Sounds like him; man can't trust anyone." He let Kaneo step into the room, but hesitated outside. "How do I know for sure Cornika sent you?"

Kaneo examined the room before answering. An office desk had been pushed up against the wall, and a section of the window glass had been expertly cut away, letting the cold air whistle in. A long-range case was propped against the glass, and a bipod stand leaned against it, ready to be affixed to the muzzle of the gun. A compact incinerator stood in a corner, filled with used tissues ready to burn.

"My name is Kaneonuskatew," the therian replied finally, giving his full name to the man without turning to face him.

"You're a therianthrope?" the man asked, lowering the long-range and eyeing the bracelet only half visible under Kaneo's long coat sleeve. "You're one of _those_ therianthropes?"

"What's the distance to target?" Kaneo asked, ignoring the question, as he watched the balcony across the platform, eyes easily seeing everything going on below.

"800 meters," the man answered slowly. He stared at Kaneo with a mixture of suspicion and awe.

"Air conditions?" The therian knelt down to look at the balcony through the hole in the glass, and as he did so he handed the bipod to the man standing behind him.

The man accepted the stand and began to clap it onto the swivel stud of the gun. "Little wind, but it's not cold enough to freeze the shot." He laughed warily at his own joke, then pulled a tissue out of his pocket to wipe his nose.

"You sick?" Kaneo asked, standing back to give the man room to place the gun.

"Just a bit," the man responded, dropping the tissue into the trash incinerator. "Damn weather. Don't worry, I don't leave any DNA."

"Good," the therian mumbled halfheartedly, running a gloved finger over the glass top of the desk. "Anybody see you when you entered the building?"

"Probably, but I rode the elevator three platforms down and climbed the stairwell up to this floor. I hid in the maintenance shaft off the stairwell while the guards did their sweep and cleared the building."

"And the cameras?"

"I killed them, while in the maintenance shaft. They're looking at a loop of empty rooms right now. And for some idiot reason, there are no cameras in the stairwell, which just makes it easier for us, I guess."

"And there are no other members of the team?"

"That's right," the man said proudly, smiling as he looked through the scope of his long-range. "I never miss."

"Good," Kaneo said as he reached into his waistband and pull out the handgun. He clicked off the safety, took half a second to aim, and shot the man in the back of the skull before he could react.

The man crumbled against the glass, which was now splattered with thick red blood. The long range fell forward through the opening in the window until the bipod it stood on caught the edge, and it sat there awkwardly as Kaneo retrieved his spent shell casing.

The therian left the room quietly, disturbing nothing. He traveled back down to the storage room floors below, entering cautiously, and folded his human clothes back into the briefcase he'd pulled them out of earlier. He placed the handgun on top and clicked the briefcase shut, sliding it behind the shelf next to the other.

Kaneo drummed his fingers over the clan bracelet he was wearing, then slowly reverted back to his cat form, his dark skin sprouting black fur until there was no outward indication that he'd been anything different.

The therian rejoined the crowd as easily as he'd left it. A couple guards gave him awkward looks, but they had nothing to search and no reason to be suspicious. Kaneo slipped back next to the she-cat silently just as a final cheer went up for the speaker standing at the balcony, unaware.

The speaker was smiling, waving a final goodbye to the crowd, and turned to leave. Beside him stood the wolf therian, still in human form, who caught Kaneo's eye. The two stared at each other for a moment, then the wolf nodded almost imperceptibly to the cat far below and turned to follow.

"What did I tell you?" The she-cat said to Kaneo as he watched the other therian disappear. She gave no indication that she had even noticed Kaneo's absence. "I told you he was amazing."

"I think he's an idiot," Kaneo said, then sighed, "but I guess he's doing a good job so far."

As they passed through the building on their way back home, Kaneo noticed guards swarming around the stairwell, and an average looking businessman walked by carrying two briefcases.


End file.
